The institutions of the people, by the people and for the people? Addressing central banks’ power and social responsibility in a democracy
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2022
- handle: 10670/1.4oh4g7
- halshs: halshs-03757706
Mots-clés
central banks central bankers power social responsibility democracy B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches/B.B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics/E.E0 - General/E.E0.E02 - Institutions and the Macroeconomy E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics/E.E1 - General Aggregative Models/E.E1.E12 - Keynes • Keynesian • Post-Keynesian E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics/E.E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit/E.E5.E52 - Monetary Policy E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics/E.E5 - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit/E.E5.E58 - Central Banks and Their PoliciesSujets proches
Banks, Central Central banking Central banks Banker's banksCiter ce document
Louis-Philippe Rochon et al., « The institutions of the people, by the people and for the people? Addressing central banks’ power and social responsibility in a democracy », HAL-SHS : économie et finance, ID : 10670/1.4oh4g7
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Résumé
This paper sheds light on an overlooked issue in economics, namely the social responsibility of central banks in a democracy. We consider central banks as institutions of power, and, as such, neither are they nor their policies neutral, in the sense that there are inevitable winners and losers. In this context, we explain why and how their power should be regulated and controlled by society. Specifically, we focus on the income distributive nature of monetary policy to demonstrate this assertion. From this, we explain that the time is ripe to build a new framework for central banking aiming at improving central banks’ social responsibility consistent with the spirit of a democratic system, and resting on new rules, new types of inner organization and, more broadly, an ethics of responsibility of a new kind.